{"id":29977,"date":"2026-03-05T16:58:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/29977\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:58:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T16:58:46","slug":"wti-futures-rise-2-near-76-yet-struggle-above-it-as-middle-east-tensions-show-easing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/29977\/","title":{"rendered":"WTI futures rise 2% near $76, yet struggle above it as Middle East tensions show easing"},"content":{"rendered":"WTI futures on NYMEX rose 2% to near $76.00 in European trading on Thursday. The price stayed firm but struggled to hold above $76.00 amid signs of easing tensions involving the US, Israel and Iran.\n\nOil had risen in recent sessions due to increased military activity near the Strait of Hormuz, which raised supply concerns. A Sky News Arabia report said Iran is willing to abandon plans for nuclear infrastructure if the US offers a rewarding alternative.\n\n

Iran Nuclear Offer Impacts Oil<\/h3>\nSky News Arabia quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh as saying Iran is ready to abandon its nuclear programme under that condition. Oil initially fell after the report but recovered and kept intraday gains.\n\nHigher energy prices have raised concerns about global inflation and could lead central banks to delay monetary easing. Expectations of tighter policy can weigh on oil prices.\n\nWTI stands for West Texas Intermediate, a US-sourced crude benchmark, distributed via the Cushing hub. It is described as \u201clight\u201d and \u201csweet\u201d due to low gravity and sulphur content.\n\nWTI prices are driven mainly by supply and demand, including global growth, conflicts, sanctions and OPEC decisions. Oil is priced in US Dollars, so currency moves can affect affordability.\n\n

Inventory Reports And Price Moves<\/h3>\nUS inventory data from the API and EIA can move prices as it signals shifts in supply and demand. Their results are similar 75% of the time and usually within 1% of each other.\n\nLooking back to early 2025, we saw WTI prices struggling around the $76 mark as the market balanced supply risks with fragile hopes of de-escalation in the Middle East. Today, with crude oil trading closer to $85 per barrel, it is evident that the geopolitical risk premium has become more embedded. The potential Iranian deal mentioned last year failed to materialize, leaving supply concerns as the dominant market force.\n\nThe supply situation remains tight, a fact underscored by the latest OPEC+ meeting where members agreed to roll over production cuts into the next quarter. This decision comes as the most recent EIA report showed a surprise inventory draw of 1.9 million barrels, indicating that demand is outpacing current supply. These supply-side constraints suggest that any significant price dips are likely to be short-lived.\n\nOn the demand side, concerns about central bank policy persist, just as they did last year. While the Federal Reserve initiated modest rate cuts in late 2025, the latest February 2026 inflation data came in slightly above expectations at 3.3%, tempering hopes for more aggressive easing. This creates a ceiling for prices, as traders worry that sustained high energy costs could slow economic growth.\n\nGiven this dynamic, we should consider strategies that benefit from upward momentum while managing potential downside from macro headwinds. Buying call spreads on WTI futures, such as purchasing the April $88 call and selling the $92 call, offers a defined-risk way to position for further gains. This approach captures potential profits if prices continue to climb due to supply tightness but limits the loss if rate hike fears cap the rally.\n\nVolatility has increased, with the CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index (OVX) ticking up to 35, higher than its average last year. This elevated volatility makes selling options more attractive, but also riskier given the geopolitical backdrop. Therefore, traders should be cautious about selling naked puts, instead favoring put credit spreads far out-of-the-money to collect premium while defining their maximum risk.\n\nCreate your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b>\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WTI rises 2% near $76 as Middle East tensions ease; Iran signals nuclear concessions, inflation worries persist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29977\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}